Ageing is our greatest common denominator, yet our knowledge of it is still very limited. As populations around the world grow older, we need to understand the economic, social and political implications of ageing.

The Graduate Diploma in Ageing at the University of Melbourne is an exciting interdisciplinary course that is designed to provide students with key competencies in the ageing field to meet the rapidly increasing market demand.

This is the first course of its kind that brings together academics from multiple disciplines, including public health, medicine, architecture and design, engineering, business and economics, government, and the arts. Academics collaborate with leading experts from Australia and around the world.

By successfully completing this course you may be eligible for credit toward the Master of Ageing.

Course aims

We’ve designed this course to produce leaders in the field of ageing who will be able to develop new approaches and policies that help shift the focus to a more positive and holistic view of ageing. This course will provide opportunities to gain practical skills and undertake high-order analysis, using interdisciplinary strategies and cross-cultural comparisons.

Students will learn how national and global politics, economics, ethics and social equity influence the way society plans for and meets infrastructure and service delivery requirements of ageing populations in Australia and around the world. Hear expert perspectives on the trends, issues and challenges faced by communities, organisations, businesses and governments. Investigate how an ageing population drives workforce and retirement trends, and how recent technological advances can revolutionise the ageing experience. Develop the capacity to identify market needs, negotiate with government and shape policy. Identify and analyse the multiple determinants of healthy ageing and develop integrative approaches to managing them.

Who the course is for

This program is for those looking to build a career specialising in this fast-growing sector and will be particularly relevant if you are a policy and planning professional, entrepreneur, manager, healthcare professional, or someone already working with ageing populations and workforces. At the completion of this course, students will be well placed for leadership advocacy and managerial roles.

Career outcomes

The greater integration of technology into everyday life continues to revolutionise areas such as healthcare provision, product design, productivity and transportation, and attention to the needs of older people in each of these areas is increasing. Product development associated with the field of gerontechnology is beginning to have an effect on many other industries. Urban design, immigration policy, consumer policy, consumer protection, insurance and financial education are all being affected by the global ageing phenomenon. Notions of retirement are evolving and plans for longer working lives are influencing the approaches that large organisations and financial advisors are taking with ageing populations.

The Graduate Diploma In Ageing is designed to increase your leadership and career potential to meet the accelerating market demand for a skilled workforce. The course provides both a contextual overview and specialist skills along with knowledge of the key issues around ageing. Local, state and federal governments along with NGOs and private sector organisations are keen to employ skilled graduates.

In the Australian aged-care sector alone, there are currently over 350,000 paid employees and the Productivity Commission on Caring for Older Australians expects this workforce to quadruple in size over the next forty years (Productivity Commission on Caring for Older Australians, 2011). Half of these employers report skill shortages due to a lack of specialist knowledge required to meet service delivery demands.

Appraise ageing-related systems

Assess strategies aimed at promoting healthy living

You’ll be able to critically assess strategies aimed at promoting healthy and productive ageing across the lifespan (ie legislation, policy and community development).

Who you will learn from

Your online learning experience is enriched by interaction with lecturers, tutors and your fellow classmates. You can expect input and feedback from your lecturers and tutors as well as regular real-time sessions where you speak with the instructor and fellow students.

Contact student support

You can talk with a dedicated online student support consultant via the chat function at the bottom right of this page or connect through by phone. Alternatively, click on the Enquire Now tab below and fill out the form to find out about key details relating to this program, including:

Ageing in Society

This subject aims to offer students a critical examination of the ways in which ageing is socially constructed. Students will learn about ageing from a range of perspectives, including life course, bio-medical, gender, cross cultural, consumer, historical and self-reflection. The subject will focus on how the prevailing social context shapes ideas, relationships, and practices with specific implications for older people. This subject will critically analyse all forms of ageism and how older people are portrayed in literature, media and government policy using case studies from Australia and other countries around the world. Students will be encouraged to reflect on what ageing means to them, how they would like to age and what the impact of an ageing population might mean for future policy development.

Body of Ageing

This subject focuses on how the body and its systems are affected by ageing and explores the differences between the natural ageing process and physical changes that develop as a result of illness with older persons. Students will also examine the effects of the environment and lifestyle factors on musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory and neurological systems that contribute to the experience of ageing and to the individual’s capability to engage with their participation preferences. Understanding the common impairments and physiological changes behind them that occur as part of ageing process provides students with a fundamental base to critically analyse as well as develop strategies for healthy ageing and disease prevention.

Economics of Ageing

The subject examines the influence of private and public/government decision-making on the economic well-being of older people. These decisions include private decisions to prepare for old-age and to live through old-age by saving and managing assets such as housing, superannuation, annuities and other assets and government decisions to provide income support, health care and regulations that aim to protect old people. The influence of behavioural biases, as uncovered by behavioural economics, will be discussed. The subject also covers how an ageing population exerts upward pressure on the taxation required to finance government activities and services for the aged and how this may affect the ‘social contract’, in which the young assist the old in expectation of assistance when they are old from succeeding generations.

Ethics of Ageing

This subject provides an overview of some of the key ethical issues associated with ageing across the lifespan, with an emphasis on their societal dimensions and implications for policy and professional practice. The skills and knowledge gained by students completing this subject will enhance their ability to engage with the health, social and economic issues of ageing encountered throughout the Masters of Ageing curriculum.

Ageing Health and Human Services

This course explores the interface of policy and practice in the delivery of aged care services. The responses to policy shifts in aged care over time will be explored. The course will then focus on the present day impact of health care, mental health, income security, housing, and employment, educational and recreational policies on the delivery of services to older citizens collectively and as individuals. Case studies will be used to illustrate both the theoretical and practical aspects of designing and delivering services.

Design for Ageing

Demographic ageing is creating a shift in how to think and define homes, cities and public spaces. This subject explores feasible and sustainable approaches to keep the older segment of the population physically and socially active. Innovative changes in design can lead to significant advancements in service delivery, transportation models and homes that allow people to age in place. In addition, design principles for dementia and palliative care are a few of the many concepts that help minimise stress on people as they age and their families. Students will explore these topics and develop their own ideas about the way design can optimise the ageing process for comfort, security and overall well-being.

End of Life Issues

Examine end of life issues in a variety of contexts, such as in private homes, hospitals, hospices and residential care facilities, and consider their implications for individuals; families and friends; clinicians and health professionals; carers; and policy makers. Examples of policy, practice and legislation from a range of countries will be used to highlight common features and diverse approaches to end of life issues.

Global Population Ageing

Population ageing is causing fundamental societal and economic change in many countries and regions throughout the world. Although the opportunities and challenges presented by ageing differ between countries and regions, a global perspective can inform the development of sound policy responses to help individuals and societies to manage the transition to an older population structure. This course guides students through a range of key issues that are faced by societies with population ageing, and encourages them to critically appraise specific policy responses and to identify practical lessons to be learned from the experiences of countries experiencing rapid and advanced ageing. Topics covered include health, mature age employment, retirement and finances, age-friendly housing and environments, wellbeing & community participation, advanced ageing countries and rapidly ageing countries.

Leadership for an Ageing Workforce

The world is in the middle of an historic demographic shift in which an ageing population and changing social attitudes interact with a range of other megatrends transforming work organisation and organisational leadership. This subject focuses on understanding how demographic and other changes challenge traditional models of leadership and managing people. It will explore, assess and develop a range of skills and capabilities associated with effective leadership, that enable organisational leaders to drive strategic, people and effective change in the context of an increasing age diverse workforce and dynamic external environment. Using case studies of leadership challenges associated with different aspects of age diversity and an ageing workforce, it explores how leadership can be used to improve organisational and individual outcomes. This subject will also examine dimensions of leadership identity and management of self as an important part of developing effective leadership. It will apply these skills and capabilities to the context of leading age diverse organisations using case studies that explore each of these dimensions of leadership capabilities.

Mental Health and Ageing

In this subject the implications of mental health and ageing are explored from a range of bio-medical and social perspectives. Lecture topics include understanding the distinction between mental health and mental illness, placing mental health and ageing within a lifespan framework with an emphasis on cognitive changes in later life and managing common mental health disorders in older age. Screening, assessment and psychological interventions for these common conditions are covered, including late life delusional disorders, substance use and abuse, anxiety and personality disorders, delirium and dementia, depression and pain. This subject also discusses demographic projections for mental health disorders and considers strategies to support an ageing worldwide population, including mental health promotion. and pain.

Shifting Paradigms in Ageing

Populations are ageing globally and the Master of Ageing program is designed to produce leaders in the field of ageing who are able to develop new approaches and policies that help shape the societal shift that will inevitably occur. To this end, the Shifting Paradigms in Ageing subject aims to provide students with skills and techniques to think laterally and shift paradigms. As Einstein said “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Ageing is also about opportunity, and this subject will enhance the ability to recognise and leverage that potential.

Technology and Ageing

This subject looks at the ways in which recent technological advancements can revolutionise the experience, management and future of ageing. Innovations in how we age are explored from multiple perspectives, including how technology can support autonomy and independent living as well as social connectedness to minimise the isolation common in later life.

Workload

The estimated hours required for each subject is between 15 -19 hours per week, but this varies for each student and depends on your task management and planning, familiarity with the material, reading style and speed.

Entry requirements

To apply for the Graduate Diploma in Ageing, you are required to have:

An undergraduate degree in any discipline, or equivalent

Documented evidence of at least two years' professional work experience.

Meeting these requirements makes you eligible for selection but does not guarantee selection.

In ranking applications, the Selection Committee will consider:

Prior academic performance; and

Professional work experience.

All applicants are required to provide a current curriculum vitae describing their work experience and tertiary and other qualifications, as a supplement to transcripts.

The Selection Committee may seek further information to clarify any aspect of an application in accordance with the Student Application and Selection Procedure.

Applicants are required to satisfy the university’s English language requirements for postgraduate courses. For those applicants seeking to meet these requirements by one of the standard tests approved by the Academic Board, performance band 6.5 is required.

Students taking the course from overseas are not required to have an international student visa.

Fees and scholarships

Course

Points

Cost

Graduate Diploma in Ageing

100 point program

A$25,152

Course fees are the same for both domestic and international students.

Your course is equivalent in quality and accreditation to an on-campus qualification. Each subject is designed by academics, subject coordinators and learning designers to deliver an interactive and enriching experience, with regular contact from lecturers, tutors and a dedicated online Student Support team.

The indicative course fee for the course is based on one year of full-time study. In cases of part-time study, the fee is based on the study load that the student is taking. Fees are paid on a per subject basis each term, and total course fees are not required to be paid up-front.

The fees listed are the indicative costs for 2018. The University reviews fees annually. The indicative total course fee is based on typical subject enrolments, and includes an indexation of 5 per cent per annum.

Financial assistance and scholarships

If you are an Australian Citizen or Permanent Humanitarian Visa holder, you may be eligible for financial assistance from the Australian Government.

There are many bursaries and scholarships awarded by the University and specific faculties, based on a variety of criteria. Online students are encouraged to apply.

FEE-HELP

FEE-HELP is a loan available to eligible students in domestic fee-paying places to help pay for all or part of their tuition fees. The Commonwealth Government sets limits on how much you can borrow. FEE-HELP loans are repaid through the taxation system. No loan fee applies to loans for postgraduate studies. Detailed information about eligibility for FEE-HELP is available from the Study Assist website.

Domestic scholarships

The Melbourne Scholarships Program is one of the most generous and comprehensive in Australia – supporting approximately 3000 students at the University. The scholarships program serves to both reward outstanding academic achievement and provide access for students who might otherwise be prevented from undertaking further study. For full details of all domestic graduate scholarships, visit the Future Students website.

Further information regarding financial aid options for current students is available on the Student Services website.

International scholarships

There are no scholarships available for overseas online students from the University of Melbourne. Companies, home universities, professional organisations and charities may provide scholarships.

Apply online

It takes about 20 minutes to complete the form using the online application system.

You can save your work in progress and complete the application at a later date.

Admissions for this course are not capped per intake, so you do not need to apply for multiple intakes. If you are unsure which intake you wish to apply for, please note that you can change your application later by contacting the student support team.

To complete your application you will require:

A detailed CV, including work history if applicable and specifying if the positions were part time or full time and the number of years/months employed

Transcripts for ALL courses completed including an explanation of the grading system. Transcripts for previous studies undertaken at the University of Melbourne are not required. An academic transcript is an official record of your studies that lists all subjects you have undertaken, and all of the results that you obtained.